Knitting machine



June 11, 1940.

H. AGULNEK 2,203,711

KNITTING MACHINE Filed Dec. 29, 1938 INVENTOR Harr AguZmk BY m ATTORNEY Patented June 11, 1940 PATENT OFFICE KNITTING MACHINE Harry Agulnek, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignoito Samuel Mishcon, doing business as Supreme Knitting Machine (70., Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application December 29, 1938, Serial No. 248,156

6 Claims.

This invention relates to knitting machines, particularly of the type adapted for fine gauge work.

In the manufacture of fabrics with closely knitted stitches, it has always been a problem to provide such mechanism as will contain the required number of fine gauge knitting elements without sacrificing structural strength. Especially where pattern wheels or other forms of selectors are employed in conjunction with independently movable needles, either of the latch or spring bard varieties, or with independent movable sinkers, has this problem been a serious one-for the finer the gauge, the thinner must the walls of the needle or sinker-actuating wheels be made. For example, it has been found that in circular open-top independent needle knitting machines, if more than twenty-four needles per circumferential inch are to be employed, it would be impractical to use pattern wheels having milled circumferential slots therein for accommodating the conventional jacks and needle butts. Particularly in cases where as many as thirty to thirty-four needles per circumferential inch are required, for certain types of fine gauge work. the walls would have to be so thin that they could not be made integral with the wheel but would have to be in the form of separate wall inserts suitably secured to the periphery of the wheel. The use of such inserts, among other expedients at times employed for fine gauge work, hence frequently causes such structures to be both intricate and expensive. It is hence primarily within the contemplation of my invention to solve this problem by enabling fine gauge work to be economically, conveniently and efficiently produced with closely spaced fine-gauge knitting elements. And it is'another object of my invention to enable the aforesad objective to be effectuated without adversely affecting either the selectivity or strength of the knitting machine.

It is still another object of this invention to enable conventional selector wheels to operatively actuate a greater number of knitting-elements than actually come into intermeshing engagement therewith. And in this aspect of my invention it is another object to enable a structurally strong pattern wheel, of relatively coarse-gauge set-up, to operatively actuate double the number of knitting elements with which the wheel would normally be adapted to coact when used in accordance with known conventional practice.

in turn are adapted to actuate certain other knitting elements.

Other objects, features and advantages will appear from the drawing and in the descriptio hereinafter given.

Referring to the drawing,

Figure 1 is a semi-diagrammatic development latch-clearing position with respect to the sinker illustrated.

Figure 3 is an end view of three adjacent latch needles of the type of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary perspective of a portion of a selector wheel with jacks therein, in cooperative relation with knitting needles of my invention.

Figure 5 is a semi-diagrammatic plan view of a portion of a knitting machine illustrating an arrangement of sinkers containing my invention in cooperative relation with a selector wheel, and

Figure 6 is a perspective view of two adjacent sinkers of the type illustrated in Figure 5, the sinkers being shown separated for clarity.

In Figure 1 of the drawing, the knitting elements are shown to be a plurality of needles positioned about the cylinder of a circular opentop knitting machine, the cylinder illustrated being stationary and the needle elevating and depressing elements being rotatable thereabout in conventional manner, these elements being illustrated as the approach cam ,Hl, the selector wheel II and the stitch cam l2.

It will be observed that the needles are arranged in pairs--a relatively long needle containing two spaced butts, and a relatively short needle containing a single butt. Referring particularly to Figures 2, 3 and 4, it will be seen that the double-butt needle 13 contains a lower butt M of conventional configuration, and an upper butt l5 containing a laterally protruding shelf l6 extending from the lower edge thereof. The next adjacent needle I! is shorter than needle l3, and contains but a single butt it of conventional form, said latter butt being positioned upon the said shelf IS. The selector wheel ll contains a plurality of peripheral walls such as those identified by the reference numerals l9 and 20 and wherever desired, conventional jacks v cam I2, constituting the primary needle elevating and depressing mechanisms, are successively brought into operative engagement with the needles, substantially in the manner of conventional operation. However, instead of the butts of all the needles coming into operative engagement with the elevating elements, only the lower butts I4 of the long needle I3 are brought into such engagement. In other words, only said lower butts It actually contact the approach cam I andpass through the slots of wheel II or are elevated by the jacks therein,the upper butts I5 of the long needles I3 and the butts I8 of the short needles I'l being sufficiently spaced above said lower butts I4 to enable them to clear the approach cam Ill and selector wheel II. It is thus obvious that whenever any long needle I3 is operatively elevated, it carries with it the adjacent short needle I'l ,through the medium of the aforesaid shelf I6.

Because of the novel structure of knitting elements above described, wheel II need be provided only with half the number of peripheral slots therein as would be required in accordance with ordinary conventional practice. Hence the walls I9 and and the jacks 2| and 22 could be correspondingly heavier and structurally stronger than the corresponding parts of conventional work.

wheels adapted to perform equivalent fine gauge work. It has been found that by using this construction as many as thirty-four needles per circumferential inch, and even finer gauge arrangements of needles, can be operatively actuated without any sacrifice in selectivity, and with wheels structurally as strong and as easy to fabricate as conventional wheels for coarser gauged It has been further found that this arrangement is equally effective for any type of independently movable needle, whether it be of the spring beard type, or of the latch variety. And it is also a well-known fact that in most cases of fine gauge work, there is no necessity whatsoever of independently elevating each needle, and that raising the needles in pairs will have no adverse effect upon the fineness of the gaugeand indeed will give a more pronounced design effect where that may be necessary.

In order to complete the knitting cycle, it is necessary for all the needles to be operatively brought down by the stitch cam in such manner as to enable each needle to take a stitch individually and independently of any other needle. Although, in accordance with this invention, all needles are elevated in pairs, as aforesaid, the structure is such as to permit them to be depressed by the stitch cam individually. By referring particularly to Figure 1 it will be noted that the relative positioning of the long and short nedles I3 and I! is such that the long needle is in advance of the short needle with respect to the elevating and depressing elements. In other words, each long needle I3 is closer to the oncoming approach cam I0 and the other elements on the conventional cam wheel than its corresponding short needle II. The long needles are first engaged by the surface 23 of. the approach cam III to be elevated to the tuck level, and thereafter the butts I4 of these needles either pass through the coacting slots of selector wheel II where there are no jacks, or are engaged by jacks so as to elevate the needles to their uppermost or latch-clearing positions as illustrated. Up to this point the needles are elevatedin pairs, as above set forth. However, when the stitch cam I2 reaches the needles, it will engage the upper butts I5 and I8 of both long and short needles, in succession, drawing them down independently, as clearly illustrated. The surface 24 of the stitch cam first engages the upper butt I5 of the long butt needle I3, and immediately thereafter the butt I8 of the short needle II. In this manner each needle is permitted to independently take a stitch under the influence of the stitch cam, to complete a stitching cycle.

Not only is my invention applicable to the form of knitting elements above referred to, that is to knitting needles, but it is equally applicable to independently movable sinkers, as employed in a circular knitting machine. By referring to Figures 5 and 6 it will be observed that there are two forms of coacting sinkers 24 and 25, alternately arranged about the cylinder. Sinker 24 has a relatively long butt 26 and a laterally extending shelf 21 analogous to shelf I6 hereinabove referred to; and sinker has a relatively short butt 28. The sinkers are so proportioned that the said shelf 21 is adapted to overlap and engage the wall 29 of the short-butt sinker 25 when the sinkers are in operative position about the cylinder. The arrangement is also obviously such as to enable the sinkers to be independently retracted by conventional cam mechanisms.

In Figure 5 the sinker selector wheel 30, of conventional structure, contains walls 3| and a predetermined number of jacks 32. The parts are so arranged that a jack 32 is adapted to operatively engage the long butt 2B of a sinker 24, thereby urging it inwardly in conventional manner. When this occurs, the shelf 21, being in engagement with adjacent sinker 25, will cause said latter sinker to be similarly actuated inwardly simultaneously therewith. Thus, the sinkers are actuated in pairs, substantially in the manner hereinabove set forth with reference to the application of my invention to needles. It

is hence obvious that the wheel can have heavier walls and be structurally stronger than would be the case in the event a conventional wheel were employed for the equivalent fineness of gauge.

It has been found that not only can my inven- I tion enable fine gauge work to be performed on knitting machines without employing either relatively weak selector elements, or in the alternative relativelyexpensive mechanisms, but that it also will enable such fine gauge work to be fabricated on open-top circular knitting machines not heretofore possible.

It is of course understood that other additional forms of apparatus and adaptations of the method can be employed beyond and in addition to those hereinabove described, all within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a circular knitting machine, a plurality of vertically movable closely spaced needles, 2. laterally protruding shelf on certain of said needles engageable with the next adjacent needle for operatively elevating it, needle elevating means operatively engageable with the needles containing the said shelves but out of engagement with the said adjacent needles, and stitch cams operatively engageable with all the needles for independently depressing them in succession.

2. In a circular knitting machine, the combination according to claim 1, the needles containing the shelves being positioned in advance of the respective adjacent needles operatively elevated thereby, whereby the stitch cam will first engage a needle with a shelf and immediately thereafter the next adjacent needle without a shelf for independently depressing said needles.

3. In a circular knitting machine, the combination according to claim 1, the said needles adjacent those with shelves being relatively short and containing at the lower extremities thereof butts each being positioned above and supportable by the shelf of the coacting adjacent needle and engageable by said stitch cams.

4. In a circular knitting machine, a plurality of vertically movable closely spaced needles, certain of said needles being relatively long and containing an upper and a lower butt and a protruding shelf extending laterally from the upper butt, the needles adjacent said long needles being relatively short and terminating at their lower extremities in butts positioned above and supportable by the shelves of adjacent long needles, needle elevating means operatively engageable only with the said lower butts of the long needles whereby pairs of adjacent long and short needles will be operatively lifted under the influence of said elevating means, and stitch cams operatively engageable with the upper butts of the long needles and the butts of the short needles for independently depressing them singly in success1on.

5. In a circular knitting machine, a plurality of substantially radially movable closely spaced sinkers, a laterally protruding shell on certain of said sinkers each engageable with the next adjacent sinker for operatively actuating it into its projected position, and a sinker actuator operatively engageable only with the sinkers containing shelves but out of engagement with the adjacent sinkers.

6. In a circular knitting machine, the combicontaining butts having the inner walls thereof in substantial circumferential alignment, the outer edges of the butts of the sinkers with shelves thereon being engageable with said sinker actuator, and the outer edges of the adjacent sinkers extending to points short of said sinker actuator.

HARRY AGULNEK 20 nation according to claim 5. all of the sinkers 

